Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Facebook price target raised to $110 from $94 at CowenCowen analyst John Blackledge raised his price target for Facebook (FB) to $110 ahead of the social media giant's Q2 results on July 29. Investor sentiment has grown more positive recently given Facebook's "explosive" video growth and the opening of the Instagram platform to advertisers, Blackledge tells investors in a research note previewing the Q2 results this week for Internet names. He keeps an Outperform rating on the stock. Blackledge also keeps Outperform ratings on LinkedIn (LNKD) and IAC (IACI) as well as a Market Perform rating on Twitter (TWTR). Those three companies are also reporting Q2 results this week.

Facebook July weekly volatility elevated into Q2 and outlook Facebook August weekly call option implied volatility is at 87, August is at 50, September is at 41; compared to its 52-week range of 19 to 48, suggesting large near term price movement into the expected release of Q2 results on July 29.

Earnings Watch: TV networks report as streaming services gain groundCBS (CBS), Time Warner (TWX), Viacom (VIA, VIAB), and 21st Century Fox (FOX, FOXA) are among TV network companies expected to report quarterly results over the next several weeks, with Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK) already having reported before the open on July 23. EXPECTATIONS: Time Warner is expected to report EPS of $1.03 on revenue of $6.9B, CBS is expected to report EPS of 73c on revenue of $3.22B, Viacom is expected to report EPS of $1.47 on revenue of $3.22B, and 21st Century Fox is expected to report EPS of 37c on revenue of $6.48B. LAST QUARTER: CBS, Time Warner, and Fox all reported stronger than expected Q1 results, while Viacom reported higher than expected Q2 EPS but missed on revenue. THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS: On the morning of July 23, Comcast reported Q2 EPS of 84c in line with estimates, and revenue of $18.7B versus expectations for $18.14B. Cable customer relationships for the quarter were up 31,000 to 27.3M, driven by increases in double and triple product relationships. During a subsequent conference call, the company noted that TV viewership continues to be under pressure. NEWS: At Re/code's Code Conference on May 27, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves remarked that his network will "probably" sign up for Apple's (AAPL) rumored TV service, and on June 3, CBS announced that its Showtime network will be offered over the internet as a stand-alone streaming service launching in early July for a monthly price of $10.99, with Apple as its first partner. On July 1, Variety quoted sources as saying Viacom was attempting to entice advertisers by offering to construct social-media and digital extensions of traditional TV ad campaigns as the company seeks to move away from Nielsen-based advertising sales. On July 8, the Wall Street Journal reported that Viacom's Paramount Pictures reached an agreement with AMC (AMC) to accelerate the home release of movies, noting that the company hoped to implement the quickened schedule for all new releases beginning later in the year. On July 17, Re/code reported that Viacom held talks to acquire e-commerce and media company Thrillist Media, according to sources. On June 17, 21st Century Fox named James Murdoch as CEO, with founder and former chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch appointed executive co-chairman alongside Lachlan Murdoch. The Telegraph reported on June 20 that Fox rejected offers for its stake in Sky (SKYAY) from Vodafone (VOD) and Vivendi (VIVHY), potentially signalling an interest in outright purchasing the rest of Sky, according to the report. More recently, the European Commission announced on July 23 that it delivered a statement of objections to Sky and various film studios owned by Comcast, Viacom, Fox, Time Warner, Disney (DIS), and Sony (SNE), discussing anti-trust concerns due to limitations on country-by-country availability of pay-TV services. STREET RESEARCH: On May 12, Pacific Crest said it believes Apple will launch its TV service before the end of the year, saying the move should benefit TV networks as well as Apple itself. On June 24, Brean Capital said Facebook's (FB) agreement with Time Warner to host premier episodes of certain upcoming shows was "a trend worth following," and possibly indicative of Facebook hosting additional TV content in the future. Also on June 24, FBR Capital contended that Netflix (NFLX) was on pace to have a larger 24-hour audience than all traditional broadcast networks, where ratings are seeing declines on average, according to the research firm. Those comments were followed by a July 10 note on Netflix from Morgan Stanley, saying the subscription streaming service was seeing higher time spent per day than any single broadcast network. Moving away from the Netflix factor, on July 10, JPMorgan said CBS shares looked "very attractive" following a recent selloff, though the company saw a downgrade on July 20 from Pivotal, which cited higher costs of capital among other factors. Finally, Citi upgraded Viacom on July 16 to Neutral, citing recent underperformance in the company's shares heading into earnings season.

Pearson expects to return to more normal levels of restructuring expenditureExpects cyclical and UK policy related factors to stabilize in 2015. The US policy environment remains uncertain. In North America, the company expects growth in online higher education services and VUE and, with more stable college enrollments and a slower new edition year, courseware to be broadly level. In School, the company expects greater stability in courseware and assessments with growth in virtual schools.In Core markets, the company expects trading conditions to stabilise in the UK, growth in inside services to broadly offset declines in courseware in Australia, and sustained share in Italy following share gains in 2014. Pearson expects the Financial Times to continue to benefit from, and invest in, its digital transition. In Growth markets, the company expects good growth in China in our English Language Learning adult and test preparation businesses and continued stability in courseware; in Brazil, it expects a better year in our sistemas business and good growth in the English Language Learning franchises; and in South Africa Pearson expects modest declines in the school courseware and lower enrollments in higher education.

Pearson reports interim 2015 adjusted EPS of 4.4p compared to 4.7p last yearReports interim 2015 sales up 1% at CER to GBP 2.2B, reflecting growth in North America, Brazil and China, and strength in digital and services, including Connections Education and Pearson On Line Services. This was partly offset by a smaller new textbook adoption market in US schools and the phasing of school textbook expenditure and lower college enrolments in South Africa. Reports interim 2015 deferred revenue from continuing operations up 3% at CER to more than GBP 750M as a result of further good progress in our digital and services businesses partly offset by lower deferred revenue in UK testing and in South Africa, due to lower college enrollments.